The dust settled, and the street became quiet.
"Huff... Huff..."
Yejing Hall was panting heavily. After sheathing his sword, he turned to look at Luo Ning. He could see that Luo Ning was covering her left shoulder, her lips slightly parted, and she was staring at him in astonishment.
"How's your injury?"
Yejing Hall quickly walked over and held Luo Ning's left arm to examine it.
Luo Ning gently twisted her waist to avoid his touch. Ignoring her own injury for the moment, she said in surprise, "What kind of saber technique is that? Why is it so powerful?"
"Did I ever say I was weak?"
"Weren't you someone who hadn't learned martial arts?"
"I practiced it in the courtyard a few days ago. Didn't you see it?"
"You've only practiced for a few days..."
Luo Ning opened her mouth, then paused. She thought that for this shameless little thief, it wasn't impossible for him to have realized a peerless saber technique in just a few days...
She put away her shocked expression, covered her left shoulder, and said calmly, "It's the Wingless Owl's unique poison, Chuanjin Powder. I've sealed the acupoints myself. It's not a serious problem."
Upon hearing this, Yejing Hall secretly let out a sigh of relief. He took out the "Jade Dragon Ointment" that he had taken from Third Aunt last time and handed it to Luo Ning. Then he rummaged through the headless corpse, saying, "Don't block hidden weapons for me in the future. You can't even block them..."
?
Luo Ning was naturally annoyed when she heard this heartless remark. "I'm willing to do it. What business is it of yours? Do you think everyone in the martial arts world is like you, standing by and watching indifferently when you can't save the situation and ignoring the safety of your companions?"
Yejing Hall just didn't want the people around him to get hurt for his sake. He was actually very touched and didn't retort. Instead, he quickly searched the corpse.
As a result, he didn't find the antidote bottle. Instead, on the corpse's chest, he discovered something golden.
Yejing Hall took out the golden paper and examined it back and forth. He knew it was a strange and precious item that was invulnerable to swords and spears, but he didn't know its specific details. So he put it by his side and continued searching.
Luo Ning came up behind him. She was about to say something when she caught a glimpse of the golden paper placed beside it. Her body trembled slightly.
Yejing Hall was absorbed in searching for things. Sensing Luo Ning's sudden stillness in breathing, he turned around and looked at the golden paper again. "Do you recognize this thing?"
The paleness of Luo Ning's face masked her original uneasiness. She was clearly a bit flustered inside—she knew what this piece of golden paper was. The leader of the Pingtian Sect was also collecting the "Minglong Tu", and he had one page in his hand.
According to the leader of the Pingtian Sect, the "Minglong Tu" consisted of nine kinds of strange and unique secret techniques. Obtaining one of them could make a person far surpass ordinary people. Luo Ning wasn't sure if one could ascend to immortality after learning all of them, but she was certain that it could make one "remain youthful forever".
Because from the first time she met the leader of the Pingtian Sect until now, except for a more mature temperament, the leader's appearance hadn't changed at all compared to that time. She had also benefited from learning a bit of it and was still as tender as Yunli...
Even without the miraculous effect of ascending to immortality, just the ability to rejuvenate and stay young was enough to drive countless martial arts grandmasters who were approaching their twilight years crazy.
When the previous dynasty was overthrown, various grandmasters took the opportunity to rush into the capital city. In order to fight for the "Minglong Tu", there were numerous cases of brothers stabbing each other in the back and masters and apprentices killing each other. There were countless tragic human dramas throughout history.
It could be said that this item was a scourge. Once someone got their hands on it, they basically had to silence all those who knew about it to prevent the news from spreading and being hunted down by people in the martial arts world.
If she told Yejing Hall about it, what if this little thief coveted the precious treasure and made up his mind...
With this little thief's character, he probably wouldn't...
After a moment of hesitation, Luo Ning still said euphemistically, "Keep this thing well. It's very important. Never let outsiders see it... Otherwise, you'll be in mortal danger."
Yejing Hall blinked his eyes and looked at the picture of "The Dragon Roaring over Three Mountains" on the golden paper. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Could this be the 'Minglong Tu'?"
"..."
Luo Ning didn't say anything. She took a few steps back and watched Yejing Hall warily.
Seeing Luo Ning's strange expression, Yejing Hall secretly guessed her concerns. He shook his head and continued to search for the medicine bottle. "You risked your life to block the hidden weapons for me just now, and now you're on guard. Are you schizophrenic?"
Luo Ning also felt that her behavior was a bit inconsistent. She said in a deep voice, "I only told you because I don't think you're a sinister person. If you really had no sense of morality in your heart, you would have died the first day I met you."
Yejing Hall didn't pay attention to her stubborn words. He continued searching and found that the flying thief had quite a few belongings. Besides the golden paper, there was also a jade pendant around his waist and a small booklet.
The booklet was ordinary and even a bit old. He took a look at the content written in it—it was similar to a diary, full of random insights and feelings, all over the place. But the strokes of the characters were vigorous and powerful. At a glance, it was clear that it was written by a master. Presumably, it was the martial arts experience record of Lu Jieyun, as rumored.
Luo Ning stood behind him, her gaze fixed on the small wooden box that had been tossed aside.
The wooden box was very exquisite. It had been opened when they were looking for the medicine. Inside, there was a emerald-green jade pendant.
"The 'Longtan Bixi', the heirloom of the Zhou family in Shuiyun Sword Pool... I heard that the Wingless Owl had been to Shuiyun Sword Pool, but the Zhou family didn't make a sound. So it was this thing that was stolen."
Yejing Hall carefully wrapped the extremely precious booklet to prevent it from being soaked by the rain and asked, "Is this jade pendant very valuable?"
"It's just an ordinary jade pendant. It was picked up by the ancestors of the Zhou family, and the Zhou family has regarded it as an heirloom. Losing this thing is tantamount to slapping the face of Shuiyun Sword Pool. No wonder the Zhou family didn't make a fuss about it."
Yejing Hall wasn't interested in these trivial matters and didn't respond. He carefully searched around the corpse's waist for a long time. Besides some miscellaneous items, he didn't find anything else.
"It seems there's no antidote."
"Most flying thieves will hide the antidote elsewhere to make the poisoned pursuers go and get it, taking the opportunity to escape. You killed him too quickly and forgot to ask."
"Uh..."
Yejing Hall's expression froze. He stood up and looked at Luo Ning, whose face was getting worse. "So what should we do?"
Luo Ning wasn't too worried. "I won't die from the poison. I've sealed the acupoints. I just need to get the poison out. Hurry up and clean up the mess and send me back to Shuanggui Alley."
Yejing Hall wasn't a bandit. After killing someone, he couldn't just leave the body on the street. After collecting the spoils, just as he was about to hide the headless corpse, the sound of dense horse hooves came from the distant street.
Tap tap tap...
The commotion just now was so loud that it was obvious that bandits were causing trouble in the important area of the capital. It wasn't surprising that the officials would rush over.
Seeing this, Yejing Hall quickly asked Luo Ning to hide first and then waited on the street. After a while, more than a dozen riders galloped over from a distance. They were wearing black-green robes and were the constables of the Black Yamen.
Afraid of accidentally causing a conflict, Yejing Hall took out the wanted notice issued by the Black Yamen from afar and called out, "Yejing Hall from Tianshui Bridge. I'm capturing the thief by the order of the Black Yamen."
The constables of the Black Yamen who came galloping dismounted and came forward. The chief flag bearer in the lead took the wanted notice from Yejing Hall to check. After confirming that the seal was correct, he put away the strong bows and crossbows and saluted with his hands clasped, saying, "Young Master Ye has great skills! Are you the young hero who had a sparring match with Lord She a few days ago?"
"That's right."
Upon hearing this, the chief flag bearer showed respect on his face and saluted again. "Thank you, Young Hero Ye, for your help. Is this definitely the Wingless Owl?"
According to the rules, when a "bounty hunter" helps to capture a fierce bandit, except for the stolen goods that the court has specifically ordered to be recovered, the rest belong to the bounty hunter.
Naturally, Yejing Hall wouldn't be so foolish as to take out the martial arts experience record and the "Minglong Tu" and hand them over to the public. He just threw the jade pendant to the constable. "This seems to be the 'Longtan Bixi'. I hope you几位大人 can take the body and the things back to the yamen to report. I just finished a fight and need to rest for a while, so I won't go there."
The constables of the Black Yamen saw that there were broken walls and ruins all around the house and knew that the fight just now had been fierce. Fortunately, Young Master Ye in front of them didn't have any obvious external injuries.
The chief flag bearer among them asked his subordinates to carry away the body and the head. At the same time, he handed a plaque to Yejing Hall. "The Imperial Physician Wang at Wende Bridge is a renowned doctor in the capital. People in the Black Yamen who are injured on official business can go to see him. If Young Master Ye has any injuries, you can just go there with this plaque."
"Thank you."
Yejing Hall informed the constables of the place where he found the Wingless Owl and asked them to go and check and deal with the aftermath. Then he took his leave.
After walking out of the sight of the constables of the Black Yamen, Yejing Hall turned back. Under the guidance of the bird, he came to a dark alley.
Luo Ning was waiting in the alley. Her face was slightly pale. When she saw Yejing Hall coming back, she quickly said, "Let's go quickly... Eh?"
Before she could finish her words, Yejing Hall came over and directly carried her on his back.
Luo Ning covered her shoulder and lay on his back. With her legs held, there was annoyance in her eyes. "My arm is injured, but my legs are fine. Why are you carrying me?"
"Stop talking nonsense. I just got a plaque. I'm taking you to see the imperial physician for your injury."
The imperial physician?
Luo Ning had been investigating the Black Yamen for a long time and knew who he was talking about. She said helplessly, "I'm a thief. The Imperial Physician Wang in the capital deals with people like the Six Fiends all day long. His eyesight must be very sharp. Wouldn't I be throwing myself into the trap if I go there?"
Yejing Hall stopped for a moment. After thinking about it, he turned and ran towards the Western Market instead.
Luo Ning felt a bit uncomfortable seeing his enthusiasm. She wasn't really against being carried by the little thief. But soon she found that the direction he was running in was wrong. "Where are you going? This isn't the way to Ranfang Street..."
"Going to the inn. Shuanggui Alley is half a city away from here. You'll be dead by the time I run there. Can't I force out the poison at the inn?"
"...?"
For some reason, Luo Ning was very determined in her attitude. "I'm not going to the inn! Put me down. I'll go back to Shuanggui Alley by myself. Little thief! Did you hear me?... Say something..."